The invention relates to a device for displaying information in a hybrid vehicle.
Hybrid vehicles, that is to say motor vehicles which have both an internal combustion engine and also an electric motor and which, as alternatives, can be driven solely by the internal combustion engine, solely by the electric motor and both by the internal combustion engine and also by the electric motor, are known from the general related art and have become more widespread in recent times. A particular advantage of these hybrid vehicles is that it is possible to use only the electric motor to drive said hybrid vehicles, as a result of which quiet and emission-free operation thereof are equally possible. To this end, known hybrid vehicles, such as a hybrid vehicle manufactured by the applicant under the name “Q5 hybrid” for example, have a switch or a button which the driver can operate in order to effect purely electric driving of the hybrid vehicle, that is to say operation in which the hybrid vehicle is driven solely using the electric motor. However, certain conditions have to be met for purely electric operation of the hybrid vehicle in this way. Since purely electric operation of the hybrid vehicle is usually already prevented when one of the conditions is not met, situations often occur in practice in which the driver has operated the button for purely electric driving but operation of this kind is not possible and this is displayed to the driver, for example, on the display instrument. Firstly, this may be disappointing to the driver and secondly it may stop him from operating the button for purely electric driving in the future.
A further problem is that the conditions which have to be met for purely electric driving are very complex and therefore cannot be directly identified by and also are not clear to the driver, and therefore it is not constructive to display these conditions to the driver.
A display device for a hybrid vehicle is described in EP 2 082 913 A1. In this document, a display instrument has a bar which can have a variable length in order to display to a driver the power of the hybrid vehicle during purely electric operation, called the EV mode, of the hybrid vehicle.
DE 10 2008 060 265 A1 discloses a display arrangement for a hybrid vehicle in which an appropriate symbol is used to display to the driver when only limited operation of the vehicle battery is possible in the event of a specific temperature being exceeded or undershot. Furthermore, the display arrangement has a battery charge display.
A device for monitoring the drive power in a hybrid vehicle is described in DE 195 33 829 C1. In this document, a display instrument is provided, said display instrument having a region marking for the current drive power, it being possible for the position of said region marking to be changed. As a result, a power which can be achieved by switching on the electric motor is displayed to the driver.
US 2009/0125173 A1 discloses a display unit in a hybrid vehicle having a speedometer, for displaying the temperature and for displaying the cooperation between the internal combustion engine and the electric motor.
A display device for an electric hybrid vehicle is described in DE 10 2010 020 673 A1. The display device has a first and a second display region which represent a first and a second hybrid mode of the hybrid vehicle. In this case, information is displayed and said information can be used to inform an operator how close the electric hybrid vehicle is to entering an electric vehicle mode or leaving said mode.